Advertising will rise to digital challenge, says Joseph Ghossoub

In his opening address to the global advertising fraternity, Ghossoub, the Dubai-based CEO of the MENA region's leading communications conglomerate The Holding Group, said the marcoms industry should embrace the new possibilities presented by the proliferation of media and digital technology.

"Two of the greatest challenges we face today, the rise of digital media and the divide between media planning and creative, are in some sense part of the same issue: The question of advertising content and where to place it," Ghossoub told international delegates gathered for the first day of the 'Ad for Future - Future for Ad' forum. "This is a question we have worked with for as long as there has been advertising."

The proliferation of media, digital and otherwise, has led to increasing clutter, shortened attention spans and client demands for more targeted messages and accurate metrics - challenges the ad industry is capable of meeting head on, he said.

"I understand that digital cannot be ignored by any agency that wants to flourish in the future. We need to figure out how to use new media to our advantage. We need to remain flexible and nimble, ready for the seemingly endless chain of technical innovations reaching out before us. We need to refine our understanding of what kinds of messages and what kinds of executions are best suited to digital media in all its guises," Ghossoub added. "With the right approach, traditional agencies will see their revenues and their relevance rise alongside those of the Internet."

Russia, one of the world's leading emerging economies, is currently the fourth fastest-growing ad market in the world. First half figures for 2007 show expenditure rising 24 per cent from last year, with six-month spending at 105 billion rubles, or USD 4.1 billion.

Thousands of delegates from across Europe, the Americas, Asia and the MENA region are attending the Moscow forum, running from September 10-15. The forum was officially opened by the Mayor of Moscow, Yury Louzhkov, who welcomed the IAA leader to the conference.

Ghossoub was elected Chairman and World President of the International Advertising Association in 2006, taking over the reins at the IAA World Congress in Dubai.